Although many observers argue that US-Russia relations are a simple reflection of elites' political and economic preferences in both countries, these preferences tend to arise from pre-existing belief systems that are deeply rooted in the public and accentuated by mass media. In Dark Double, Andrei P. Tsygankov focuses on the driving power of values and media, in addition to political and economic interests, in structuring US-Russia relations. By analyzing mainstream US newspapers and other media sources, Tsygankov identifies five media narratives involving Russia since the Cold War's end and studies them through a framework of three inter-related factors: historic and cultural differences between the two countries, inter-state competition, and polarizing domestic politics. He shows how Americans' negative views toward Russia draw from a deep wellspring of suspicion and are further enhanced by a biased media that regularly exploits such negativity, Russia's centralization of power and anti-American attitudes. Given the intensity of our current impasse with Russia, Dark Double represents an important intervention that forces us to think about the sources of conflict in a new way. Andrei P. Tsygankov is Professor at the departments of Political Science and International Relations at San Francisco State University. He has published widely in the West, and his books have been translated in Russian and Chinese. He is the author of Russia and the West from Alexander to Putin (2012), Russophobia (2009) and is the editor of The Routledge Handbook of Russian Foreign Policy (2018).
Author(s): Andrei P. Tsygankov
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 184
Tags: US Media, Russia, Politics Of Values, Western Values, Russophobia
Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 5
The Dark Double......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
List of Illustrations......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
1. Values and Media in US-Russia Relations......Page 20
US-Russia Relations in the Realm of Values......Page 21
Explaining US Media Biases......Page 28
The Book’s Organization......Page 32
National Fears, Media, and State......Page 36
American Fears of Russia......Page 42
The Role of Government......Page 47
Russia in “Transition”: The Early 1990s......Page 52
Russia in “Chaos”: 1995–2005......Page 55
“Neo-Soviet Autocracy”: 2005–2013......Page 57
Value Differences and Interstate Tensions......Page 63
“Foreign Enemy”: 2014–2016......Page 71
Conclusion......Page 75
4. Russia Fights Back......Page 76
Is Russia Blameless?......Page 77
From Acceptance to Containment of American Values......Page 83
Why Russia Is “Anti-American”......Page 91
5. Russophobia in the Age of Donald Trump......Page 100
The Narrative of Trump’s “Collusion” with Russia......Page 101
Opposition to the “Collusion” Narrative......Page 105
Explaining Russophobia......Page 108
Russia’s Role and Motives......Page 112
American Values and Russia......Page 116
Is Russia Doomed to Be the Dark Double?......Page 119
Future Clashes of Values......Page 124
Notes......Page 130
Bibliography......Page 158
Index......Page 172